Palimpsest Definition

pălĭmp-sĕst
noun
A parchment, tablet, etc. that has been written upon or inscribed two or three times, the previous text or texts having been imperfectly erased and remaining, therefore, still partly visible.
Webster's New World
An object or area that has extensive evidence of or layers showing activity or use.
American Heritage

(archaic) Monumental brasses that have been reused by engraving of the blank back side.

Wiktionary

(astronomy) Circular features believed to be lunar craters that have been obliterated by later volcanic activity.

Wiktionary

(geology) Geological features thought to be related to features or effects below the surface.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:
verb

To scrape clean, as in parchment, for reuse.

Wiktionary

On paper: to reuse, often by erasure or change of pen direction or color. Especially fueled by Earth Day.

Typically refers to a multi-layered work, e.g.: new ads covering old on a roadside sign.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Palimpsest

Noun

Singular:
palimpsest
Plural:
palimpsests

Origin of Palimpsest

  • Latin palimpsēstum from Greek palimpsēston neuter of palimpsēstos scraped again palin again kwel-1 in Indo-European roots psēn to scrape

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin palimpsÄ“stus, from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsestos, “scraped again").

    From Wiktionary

Palimpsest Sentence Examples

  • In that year, however, Angelo Mai discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan a palimpsest manuscript (and, later, some additional sheets of it in the Vatican), on which had been originally written some of Fronto's letters to his royal pupils and their replies.

  • A palimpsest containing fragments of various orations was recently destroyed by the fire at the Turin library.

  • The letters, together with the other fragments in the palimpsest, were published at Rome in 1823.

  • It is a palimpsest MS., and the upper writing (lives of saints), dated A.D.

  • As Hatoum struggles to rise, her limbs mark the sides of the container until they become a palimpsest of muddy traces.

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Words Starting With

PPAPAL

Words Ending With

TSTEST

Unscrambles

palimpsest

Words Starting With P and Ending With T

Starts With P & Ends With TStarts With PA & Ends With TStarts With P & Ends With ST

Word Length

10 Letter Words10 Letter Words Starting With P10 Letter Words Ending With T